Miuro Autonomous Music Robot

Miuro is a new autonomous network music robot that can play your iPod tunes while roving around the room. It can also handle music in a variety of other formats, including WAV, MP3, WMA, AAC, AIFF and LPCM. The system uses your wireless LAN to receive the music.

The unit also has a small webcam that can transmit pictures to your personal computer, and then to the Internet. The robot itself can be controlled from your home computer or remotely via the Internet (using your cellphone, if you wish). It uses a range sensor to autonomously avoid obstacles; the system analyzes music being played and will vary its lighting and gait accordingly.

The system also has a remote; holding the remote, you can not only select and play music, but have your personal stereo follow you from room to room.

The Miuro robotic sound system will be available in small quantities in Japan this December for about 108,000 yen.

Update 09-Jan-2010:
Read about the robot pianist from Herbert Goldstone's beautiful 1953 story Virtuoso, which describes what a humanoid robot can do once the correlation between dots on sheet music and the levers of a piano are properly explained. End update.